US stocks mixed amid earnings deluge

US stocks were mixed early Thursday on a heavy day of corporate earnings, as Wall Street sought to reverse a two-day skid that cut nearly 500 points off the Dow.
About 40 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,233.98, up 42.61 points (0.25 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.16 (0.01 percent) to 2,002.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 7.54 (0.16 percent) to 4,630.45.
Earnings from Colgate-Palmolive, Facebook and Ford Motor all topped expectations, although Chinese Internet shopping giant Alibaba reported weak sales and several other companies offered disappointing forecasts.
Initial jobless claims, an often-volatile sign of the pace of US layoffs, plunged to the lowest level in nearly 15 years last week, the Department of Labor reported.
Markets had dropped sharply Wednesday on worries about the strong US dollar, plunging oil prices and eurozone uncertainty after the radical-left Syriza party's victory in the Greek election
Dow member McDonald's jumped 4.1 percent after the struggling fast-food giant announced Don Thompson will step down as chief executive and will be replaced by company veteran and chief brand officer Steve Easterbrook.
Alibaba slumped 10.0 percent after sales for the December quarter came in at $4.22 billion. That was 40 percent above the year-ago period, but below the $4.45 billion projected by analysts.
The company also hit back at a Chinese regulator that accused Alibaba of selling fake good and labeled its executives "arrogant."
Yahoo, which Tuesday announced plans to spin off a large Alibaba stake, fell 8.6 percent.
Facebook dipped 0.4 percent after fourth-quarter earnings jumped 34 percent to $701 million. However fourth-quarter costs and expenses rose 87 percent from a year ago to $2.7 billion. The company invested heavily in 2014 to beef up its mobile technology presence.
Colgate-Palmolive shot up 5.9 percent as fourth-quarter earnings rose 11.3 percent to $628 million. The maker of toothpaste and other consumer staples beat analyst expectations despite the drag from the higher dollar.
Chocolate maker Hershey fell 6.2 percent as it projected 2015 earnings of $4.30-$4.39 per share, below the $4.46 forecast by Wall Street analysts. The company said growth in advertising spending, including ramped-up investment in mobile communication, will outpace net sales growth.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.75 percent from 1.72 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.31 percent from 2.29 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.